Older Soldiers Find Niche In New Army
As the South Florida real estate market disintegrated and the number of jobless rose, 40-year-old Jorge Gil Muela made a young man’s decision.
The five-foot-seven, 235-pound property appraiser walked into a recruiting center in a Kendall strip mall to join the Army. He was told to shed 50 pounds. It’s a small price, he said, for the job security and pay, family health insurance and new career as a cargo handler.
Muela’s tale shows how the financial crisis may be subtly aiding the Army, which struggled to meet its recruitment goals in 2004 and 2005.
Muela was able to become ”GI Jorge” because Congress in 2006 raised the Army’s age cap from 35 to 42.
Analysts anticipate that these hard times may help build a more mature, discerning Army less reliant on bonuses and waivers for would-be soldiers with health issues or criminal records.
”Since the economy has gone into the tanks, the recruiting environment has gotten a lot better,” says Andrew F. Krepinevich Jr., president of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, a Washington policy research group.
Photo by Army.mil.
Jaclyn on March 6th, 2009 12:50 pm
I definitely think it’s about time that the military re consider their stipulations on who they take and who they don’t take. i knew of a man who tried to join the marines who would not take him because he had worts on his hands. well…what does that have to do with shooting bad guy’s? nothing! i think over the year’s they have gotten way to picky about who they take and don’t…if you need people that badly…then take anyone who apply’s short of people with mental or physical disabilities for obvious reason’s.
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